I'm not terribly sure myself. Taken literally it seems to be an attempt to reference the Latin word malus(adj) or male(adv), which means "bad" or “badly.” The word 'mal' is a Latin root, but the word itself is not meaningful without an inflection.

I've always taken it one of two ways. First, Joss probably threw it in to create a little suspicion about Mal's character, since it was the first episode aired. Second, technically Mal is indeed a 'bad guy.' He's an outlaw, a smuggler, a killer, and an occassional thief. To the Alliance, he's the villain. To us that know him better, we know different!

I agree with Sparroni on this. I always assumed it meant that Mal, deep down, had a healthy dose o' bad in him. Heart of gold and all that, but Joss has said that he intended Mal to be darker than Fox allowed him to be.

I think it was a dialogue gag (which still also fits with River's random synapse firing thing) - she says "Mal, bad." There's a pause and we think she is telling Simon that Mal is a bad man, that she is suspicious of him. But then of course she completes her thought: "in the latin." Which turns a potentially charged statement into a fairly innocuous/random one.

Quote:Originally posted by SPARRONI:
I've always taken it one of two ways. First, Joss probably threw it in to create a little suspicion about Mal's character, since it was the first episode aired. Second, technically Mal is indeed a 'bad guy.' He's an outlaw, a smuggler, a killer, and an occassional thief. To the Alliance, he's the villain. To us that know him better, we know different!

Hello, first post here. I just got done watching the entire series and the commentary, and I love the show.

I think that River's comment was random synapses with the obvious connection between the prefix and its latin root. Kaylee said that Mal's a good man, though, and I believe her, despite whatever he may have become after the battle of Serenity Valley.

Quote:Originally posted by Zoriah:
I think it was a dialogue gag (which still also fits with River's random synapse firing thing) - she says "Mal, bad." There's a pause and we think she is telling Simon that Mal is a bad man, that she is suspicious of him. But then of course she completes her thought: "in the latin." Which turns a potentially charged statement into a fairly innocuous/random one.

haha yes you are correct...

__________________________
There's no show I'd rather see, than the one with Serenity.
You can't take the sky from me...

Quote:Originally posted by Piersnica:
Hello, first post here. I just got done watching the entire series and the commentary, and I love the show.

Hi, always good to welcome another browncoat to our ranks

Quote:Originally posted by Piersnica:
I think that River's comment was random synapses with the obvious connection between the prefix and its latin root. Kaylee said that Mal's a good man, though, and I believe her, despite whatever he may have become after the battle of Serenity Valley.

I was trying to have some fun with his name which I admit diverged from the intended meaning of River's comment (I do agree with you that it's a random comment and Mal is actually a good person), but, it does have some basis in truth, as we know how Mal deals with people sometimes (ie Niska and his men).

----
"Canada being mad at you is like Mr. Rogers throwing a brick through your window." -Jon Stewart, The Daily Show

Sure, I see what you're saying. There's definitely a darkness to him, because he lost so much on the battlefield (mercy, compassion, forgiveness, faith). With the Niska scene, he went to a very primal part to survive, which may have been exaggerated by what he saw in battle, or may've just gotten closer to the surface because of his lack of the aforementioned things.

Quote:Originally posted by SPARRONI:
I've always taken it one of two ways. First, Joss probably threw it in to create a little suspicion about Mal's character, since it was the first episode aired. Second, technically Mal is indeed a 'bad guy.' He's an outlaw, a smuggler, a killer, and an occassional thief. To the Alliance, he's the villain. To us that know him better, we know different!

also at first I thought River just meant he was bad--ie an Independent since her family so obviously is Alliance--remember the game she & Simon place the Independents had them surrounded-using dinasaurs as they did

Quote:Originally posted by SPARRONI:
I've always taken it one of two ways. First, Joss probably threw it in to create a little suspicion about Mal's character, since it was the first episode aired. Second, technically Mal is indeed a 'bad guy.' He's an outlaw, a smuggler, a killer, and an occassional thief. To the Alliance, he's the villain. To us that know him better, we know different!

That's pretty close to what I was thinking. River's comment, random as it may have been, could simply have been her first impression of Mal. An outlaw, a smuggler, a thief, and a killer (she saw Mal shoot a lawman in cold blood). She may think the same thing that Jayne thinks, that Mal is going to turn them in for the reward at some point. Or maybe not (she can kind of read minds after all). And since she's all smart and well-educated and everything, she remembers the Latin root 'Mal' meaning 'bad' and saw fit to mention it.

Every well-bred petty crook knows that the small, concealable weapons always go to the far left of the place setting.

I think it was more, (going along the same lines that some of you guys were posting) River just showing off her intelligence. Remember, this was the first episode that aired, and they were trying to, (artfully is how I think Joss worded it) cram all the exposition in he could. Granted she just got done rattling off all the information about the ship, (things Mal himself couldn't remember) but I think it was more reinforcement that River was just "different."

There might be some root wording behind it, but, as Mal said, "You're a part of my crew, why we still discussin' this?"

On the commentary track for "Serenity," Joss Whedon remarks that Firefly is in one sense the story of how Malcolm Reynolds became a bad man after losing everything in the war against the Alliance. I think River's comment is a way of underscoring for the viewer that Mal is in some important sense bad, lest that fact be overlooked.

The Latin adjective malus, mala, malum means "evil, bad," so River being River utters some knowledge of a VERY ancient language by Firefly standards, Latin, which I'm sure she learned in a week or two. Mal itself is just the prefix, but the name Malcolm itself refers to St. Columba (literally, Columba's servant). Many English words use this prefix as mentioned, malcontent, malicious, malformed, etc.

Therefore her use of the phrase "Mal" in reference to Malcolm is actually wrong, but saying "Mal... bad... in the Latin" is correct.

I just took it as River making an observation, though it was probably put in for the purpose of letting the viewer contemplate whether Mal was more bad or more good. River may be working on figuring that out herself and so she voices that his name does mean bad in Latin, plus she's River and she's super brilliant, she's also touched. If I were there I'd have said "you're right", simple enough, just go with it, and she is right.

I definitely thought that River was making a statement of fact, in her mind. Kind of thinking it's no coincidence that the prefix 'mal' means bad. So it's not just his name but also his character she was stating.

Quote:Originally posted by bufo:
I definitely thought that River was making a statement of fact, in her mind. Kind of thinking it's no coincidence that the prefix 'mal' means bad. So it's not just his name but also his character she was stating.

My personal take was that River correctly connected Mal to Bad, and also she sensed that Mal was inherently good, albeit not by Alliance standards (she was raised by Alliance standards, but had seen their evil underbelly like few others had), and she was momentarily stricken by the incohesion, the contrast, the irony of the 2 truths.
This shot and her shot in Serenity "It's not safe - for them" ring parallel to me.

It's Joss saying "Look how clever River is. She understands Latin, and also temporarily misleads her brother into thinking that she believes Mal is evil. Also, look how clever I am: I named my hero after a bad word."

Joss, of course, has a history of ironically named characters, including Buffy, Angel, Faith, and Spike.

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